


Of Rum Balls & Mistletoe Elves

by pdoesart (elphie_jolras)



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Female Character of Color, Mentions of Cancer, Mistletoe, Multi, Nobody is Dead, Parties, Past Lavellan/Solas, Satinalia, Texting, adriana has a squad too, adriana is always a Mom, adriana's sister dates sera, al and solas are Awful Exes, al is a history major and also a cellist, alexius is not a douche, and also morrigan?, awkward times between noodle man and the freckle elf, but she's a cool mom, but someone may be dying, cullen is good at helping al, dorian and al are qp, genderfluid zevran, hawke calls her friends the "salt squad", it's sera & nadya & zevran & herself, morrigan does not make an appearance in this fanfic, nobody talks about it, sebastian and al almost dated once, texts, zevran is a genderfluid sinnamon roll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 10:00:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5535698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elphie_jolras/pseuds/pdoesart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adriana Mahariel throws a Satinalia party.  Al Lavellan is pretty much forced to attend.</p>
<p>Once there, she receives some bad news — but Cullen is there to comfort her.  Just like always.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Rum Balls & Mistletoe Elves

**Author's Note:**

> I'll probably write more things in this AU? It's basically a Pitch Perfect AU, where everybody is in acapella groups.

**MAHARIEL**  
hello? thedas to lavellan, r u in there?  
pls tell me ur coming to my satinalia party  
we havent seen u in 3 weeks morrigan says the library ate u

**AL**  
Okay, first of all, what? I talked to Morrigan yesterday  
Second of all, I’ve been writing my essay for history  
third, when and where?

**MAHARIEL**  
me  & the squad’s place.  7 o’clock.  
al, pal, u need 2 take a break  
it’s satinalia!  i didn’t even invite solas. just for u, bud

**AL**  
I haven’t celebrated Satinalia in three years  
And this is like 50% of my grade.

**MAHARIEL**  
BOO. HISS.  
im gonna have sera text u if u don’t show

**AL**  
I’m going to come to your party, calm down.  
And why didn’t you invite Solas? We haven’t been together for almost four years?  
The two of us are completely fine?

**AL  
** …Ana?

\--

**SERA B)**  
LISTEN UP M8  
GET UR ASS OUTTA UR APARTMENT  
AND COME TO THE FUCKIN PARTY, YEAH?

**AL  
** Sweet Creators.

**SERA B)**  
U CANT DO WORK ON THE DAY BEFORE SATINALIA  
ITS LIKE. ILLEGAL OR SOME SHIT IDK

**AL  
** I’m not working, Sera.   I was sleeping, until you all woke me up.

**SERA B)**  
CMON, BALDY AINT EVEN GONNA BE THERE  
THATS GOTTA BE SOMETHING GOOD, YEAH

\--

**AL  
** Where did you all get this idea that I can’t stand Solas?

**PAVUS**  
amicus, you can’t stand him.  
you send him death glares whenever you see him  
everything is a point of contention between the two of you.  
the question you should be asking is “where didn’t you all get the idea that I can’t stand Solas?”

**AL**  
Okay, I don’t do any of that.  You’re a filthy liar, Dorian.  
FILTHY.  
And tell Sera to stop texting me in all caps?

**PAVUS  
** come to the party.  Maybe they’ll leave you alone.

\--

When Al arrives, the party is already in full swing.  She spots at least half of her friends already half-drunk, sprawled onto various pieces of furniture — Sera, half-laying across Adriana’s sister, is repeatedly tapping the other woman’s nose.

“At last!”

Adriana slid up along Al, holding a bottle of something alcoholic.

“Heyo! The Herald is here!”

Al feels her face heat up at the reminder of her title, and Adriana merely giggles at the elf’s blush.  It isn’t as if the Chantry even _mentions_ her anymore; she was just a teenager who could use an ancient orb.  She saved the Divine, she got a medal, people were in denial because she’s an elf.  It all worked out, in the end.

Somebody — Sera? — has decorated the home, and garlands and paper snowflakes are tossed everywhere.  Satinalia music is playing in the background, and Al assumes that it’s Krem’s doing because it definitely sounds like it’s coming from a record player and not any modern sound system

“Hello, Adriana,” Al responds, and the way the tall elf beams is enough to make her smile in return, “I brought rum balls.”

She’d made them last-minute, using an old recipe of her mother’s that she hasn’t had in ages.  But rum balls were a delicacy back home, and with the money the Chantry sends her occasionally, she had enough to purchase a high-end rum for the desserts.

“Thanks,” Ana says, taking the dish from Al and pressing the bottle into her hand instead, “Take this, you’re going to need it.  Also, avoid Zevran.”

“Why?” she asks, already looking for the Antivan.  She guesses it’s because they’ve done something ridiculous again — either that, or they’re already drunk off their ass.

“They taped mistletoe to their head,” Ana says matter-of-factly, pointing one long finger towards where the Antivan leans against a wall, smug smirk clearly visible on their handsome face.  Even with the ridiculous plant stuck firmly to their head, the elf is incredibly attractive.  “That way, anybody who talks to them has to kiss them.”

“Are you surprised?”

“No.”

And then Adriana is gone again, probably to go kiss Zevran.  Al approaches Dorian, because she has no _other_ friends that she can find at the moment, but just as she goes to talk to him —

“ _THE PARTY DON’T START TILL I WALK IN!”_

It’s Hawke.  Of course it’s Hawke.

She’s cut her hair in the three weeks since Al saw her last, and the once shoulder-length black locks are gone.  In their place is a style cropped short on the sides and back, and long on the top.  By her side are Fenris, Anders, and Sebastian — Al still winces whenever she sees him, remembering their first meeting and the awful crush she’d had on him for the entirety of an hour.

At least he’s no longer pining after Hawke, or trying to date her.  No, he’s quite happy crushing on Bethany instead.  Al feels bad for the guy, but really, anyone can see that Hawke is still smitten with Anders, and probably always will be.

Sebastian is holding a case of something, not beer because it’s a bit too large for that, and Al wonders what it is.  This question is quickly answered by Hawke, who shoves a finger in his direction and shouts: “Sebastian brought really good wine!”

“Al brought rum balls!” Sera yells back, and the Champion’s face lights up:

“ _Rum balls_?!”

Beside her, Dorian chuckles.  “I should get one of those before our dear friend eats them all,” he says, “I’ll be right back.  Do you want anything, Al?  Sera made brownies.”

“No thank you, my friend,” Al responds, and with that, Dorian slips off to the kitchen and the snacks.  Briefly, she recalls the first Satinalia after she met him — returning to her Clan, face aglow with excitement at meeting so many friends, talking for hours about the charming young man who played the cello and their brilliant teacher, Professor Alexius.

The thought of Gereon leaves her with no small amount of guilt, and she wonders how she could have forgotten to contact him for so long.  He’d been a mentor, an amazing teacher, and she had been happy to learn from him, even if he is from Tevinter.  It almost feels like a betrayal to cut off contact for so long.

So when Dorian returns, she brings the subject up: “Have you heard from Gereon in a while?  I haven’t talked to him in a long time.”

Dorian’s eyes turn sad, and discomfort worms its way into Al’s heart; something is _wrong._

“What is it?” she asks, making sure her voice is soft, even as she’s berating herself for bringing up an obviously painful topic.  Even more, she’s confused and she knows it shows on her face, forehead wrinkled and eyes staring intently at him.

“Haven’t you heard?” he asks, “Felix was diagnosed with cancer.”

Al can’t quite believe it.  She never knew Felix Alexius well, barely remembers him from the one time that she visited Dorian’s home in Minrathous for a week in the summer, but he was _kind_.  And he and Dorian were close — they’d known each other for a long time.

Professor Alexius had adored his son more than life itself.

“Is he...” she doesn’t want to finish, _can’t_ , but Dorian thankfully shakes his head and _oh thank the Maker he’s still alive there’s still hope._

“But Alexius left the Academy to oversee his treatment.  I haven’t seen him since the beginning of summer; he was taking Felix away to a special treatment retreat, or something of the sort.”

Al can’t speak, just nods, and walks to the kitchen in a daze, finishing the drink that Adriana had handed her.

“Al?”

It’s Cullen, and she dimly recognizes the concern in his voice.  Even more distantly she recognizes that she’s shaking, and that there are tears in her eyes.  This is weird, and she doesn’t like it — she hasn’t cried like this since before Corypheus, since before she saved the Divine.  She’d thought that she’d overcome her emotional breakdowns, but apparently not.

“Hey, hey, _hey_ …” His soothing words are enough to bring her focus back into reality, and she registers the feeling of his hands on her arms.  She doesn’t quite know how to label this… _whatever_ it is that is between the two of them, but it comforts her and she cares for him.

“I’m sorry,” she says after a moment, “I just… got some bad news.   I overreacted.”

“You’re fine,” he replies quickly, “I was making sure you were alright, is all… you are, aren’t you?”

She nods, managing a watery smile.  One of his large hands comes to her face and brushes away her tears with his thumb.  He towers over her, which isn’t _fair,_ but she’s an elf and he’s a human, so it isn’t really that surprising.  She just still isn’t used to it.

“Well, good then.”  And he brushes a kiss against her forehead, smile pulling at the corner of his lips.  “Dorian spoke to me about possibly caroling tomorrow — would you like to come?  I believe Lace is going to be our soprano.”

“I would _love_ that.”

\--

Satinalia dawns with the sparkle of newly-fallen snow, and the first miracle is that she doesn’t have a hangover from the night before.

The second miracle is that she and Cullen fell asleep, fully clothed, on her bed — and that she awakes with his arms wrapped around her midsection.

The third, and most hilarious, is the sight of Sera passed out on her couch with a Santa hat on.

And later in the day, when she sees Solas walking around, she finds that the sight isn’t so hard to bear when Cullen’s hand is holding hers.

\--

**AL**  
[picture message]  
I found Sera like this when I woke up  
Feel free to use for whatever nefarious purposes you wish

**MAHARIEL**  
oh sweet maker im dYING  
creators bless u, fen’lethal lavellan

**PAVUS**  
Oh  
I was wondering why I remembered sera in a hat like that  
turns out it wasn’t a fever dream

**SERA B)**  
its on, u elfy shite  
im breaking out the pictures from ur birthday last year

**NOODLE HAIR**  
… what’s going on?  
my phone won’t open the picture  
… guys?  
guys help I don’t have a smartphone like all of you.


End file.
